Guard Dog

My source for that info: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Its right in the center of the page Ok, so the USBLS is lying then. You can back that up with fact right? No, I did not think so. Illegal immigrants do not count because they are not citizens, are not entitled to unemployment benefits, and most importantly are not reporting themselves to any State agency for obvious reasons. Again you are demonstrating a lack of understanding of how the US works. The words "health care" and "education" do not appear in the US constitution. That is widely considered to be a State Government concern despite the efforts of the dems to nationalize it. If the federal government decides to take an active role in issues it raises the money to do so by taxing citizens, not businesses. It taxes the income from your job, the gains from your investments, the purchases you make (via tariff on imports), etc. I am not wealthy by any means but when democrats are in power capital gains taxes are often raised to a level that can only be called punitive. It makes small investors like me less inclined to invest in stocks when Uncle Sam is stealing 40% right off the top. When fewer people invest, stock prices fall. Then companies have less money to run their business which often leads them to retrench and then lay employees off to cut costs. Those people laid off file for unemployment and are not paying taxes. You see where this goes? I highly recommend this book: Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy by one of the greatest economic minds of the 21st century: Thomas Sowell. I read that book in it's first edition many years ago and it changed how I think about these things. One thing to remember Kaftan. The US is a fundamentally different animal than European countries. The government is the US is stratified by design with each level assigned particular reponsibilities. In most European contries there is little seperation between national and local government so macro economics apply to the european model. It is not the same here at all.

She has been a moderate-left voter in the Senate that is true. But there are those, and I count myself among them, who believe that is just a veneer. She entered the Senate to run for President. She never wanted to be a Senator for any reason other than to spring board a White House run. There are two books I've read about her that give a little insight into her mind. One was her very own It Takes a Village. It strikes me reading that that she has utterly no faith in the individual doing anything without the direction of what she calls "collective wisdom". I interpret that as "government interference" which should be an anathema to any red blooded American. I tried to read a little of her book Living History but she did not tip her hand in that one. It was really an attempt to put a happy face on events that involved here during the Clinton years. I did not read all of it, or even half, just could not get into it. The other was Power Plays: Win or Lose by **** Morris. He did not really go after Hillary by name but it plainly lays out the playbook the Clinton's, and Reagan before them used to achieve and wield power. I highly recommend this book by the way. I would not vote for either her or Obama. Not because she is a woman or that he is black. I would not vote for them because they are big government liberals who in the past have shown utter disregard for the thing I hold most sacred: limited, less intrusive government operating within Constitutional restraint.

Kaftan, I'm sorry but you have no idea what the heck you are talking about. As of June US Unemployment was at 4.5%. It never fell below 5% during the the entire eight years of the Clinton Administration. Not that THAT matters. The only way the President can directly impact unemployment is if he hires someone for his staff. The US Government practices very little "control" over the economy compared to European countries. It's two main tools for economic manipulation are taxes, and interest rates. And they have only oblique control over the latter since it is determined by the federal reserve whose chairman is a politcal apointee, but not a polititcian and does not answer to Congress or the President. True some jobs have gone overseas, but others have taken their place. Complaining about losing your sewing job to a factory in china is like the stagecoach driver complaining about losing his job because the car was invented. And like I tell people here all the time, if they don't like US jobs going to China, stop buying stuff made in China. It is easy to do and if everyone did it the market will adjust. Just do not complain if you pay more for what you buy.

Gore is a socialist. People like that do not get elected to national office in the United States. But we are wandering OT here. Sentencing will be in 2 weeks.

That says all i've ever needed to know about Bush getting into power. The funny thing about US politics Nick is that often enough someone (like Bush) gets elected not because they are good or deserving, but because the alternative is so much worse.

I wanna be a cowboy.... in fact this thing said I was. Doggone it, now I gotta go buy a horse. Hmmm where do you go to buy as horse? Sheesh, I guess I'm not much of a cowboy. I scored 6 Honor, 5 Justice, 9 Adventure, and 3 Individuality

Thats what I ran for, State Rep. Almost 6000 people voted for me. I did not even know all of them.

Ah if only such was readily available.

And that is my new sig!

I laugh about it now. Heck might as well laugh about these things than cry about them. Besides that was 5 years ago. But the whole "ex" thing did cross my mind a time or two...

That is a long story. To sum it up it was the final act in a trifecta of disasters (failed political career, failed business, failed marriage). It was nasty and bitter as these things usually are.

I agree. Nor should it mitigate the penalty. Remeber, we are talking about finger that pulls the trigger, the hand that wields the knife so to speak. One person deliberately taking the life of another. If Sand and I got into a bar fight and one of us kills the other with a punch by freak circumstance, that is not murder, it is Manslughter, a lesser crime where you cause a death but did not intend to kill. If during the bar fight one of us pulls a weapon and kills the other, that is murder. I do not want to hear any "crime of passion" excuse then. The moment a weapon is pulled, the whole ball game changes. I see you are not familiar with passion. I have an ex wife. I know.

I agree. Nor should it mitigate the penalty. Remeber, we are talking about finger that pulls the trigger, the hand that wields the knife so to speak. One person deliberately taking the life of another. If Sand and I got into a bar fight and one of us kills the other with a punch by freak circumstance, that is not murder, it is Manslughter, a lesser crime where you cause a death but did not intend to kill. If during the bar fight one of us pulls a weapon and kills the other, that is murder. I do not want to hear any "crime of passion" excuse then. The moment a weapon is pulled, the whole ball game changes.

Yes it is possible but in most states this penalty is only availiable for first degree murder where there is a mitigating circumstance that rules out the death penalty. So it DP states it is an uncommon punishement. In non DP states it is the highest punishment and is more common there. But not much. A first degree murder conviction is rare because most of the time when a perp is on the hook for it, they will plead down to second degree murder which arries a penalty of 25 years to life. But they become parole eligible after half of their sentence (12-15 years). If it were up to me I would suggest that we eliminate the distinction between 1st and 2nd degree murder. Any murder done with malicious intent will get you life in prision without reprieve or parole. Then I would say ok, drop the DP.

Nothing would be different. It made headline on every paper down here and they guy is likely to be excecuted. No matter what the race of his victim was we can only kill him once.

NWN2 came out last December right? It is still selling for top dollar ($40-$50) in the US so it must be doing well.

You wouldn't have thought those feet capable of precision work. I still believe that anyone is capable of reform, though I respect the evidence, and reports from professionals in the field, that a great many do not reform. I've also wondered if releasing someone from jail on the judgement of a psychologist isn't sometimes giving too much weight to a very young and rather inexact science. Still not a convincing argument for the death penalty though. This is more an argument for truth in sentencing laws (which liberals in the US hate). Had he spent 30 years in prision that little girl would be alive today. Here is the death penalty argument. What good does sending him to prision do if he is just released after a few years. If he is excecuted, he will not hurt anyone else. We do not have truth in sentencing laws. We DO have a death penalty. you need to use what you have.

He is little more the a figure head but that may still be very important to their cause. I read somehwere that the King Charles the II who was King of Spain AND Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was dead for a year before word got out. His strength of personality was so great they feared without it (and a stong successor) the two kingdoms would break apart. And did obviously. I could see two reasons why the US would want to keep it secret if he died. One, the hierarchy would become indepenant if they knew. Two, US support for the war might wane and it would definitely not be over if he were dead.

Well, we did. If I pretend to agree with you that we went in for the wrong reasons can you pretend to tell me WHAT BLOODY DIFFERENCE IT MAKES NOW? PLEASE......lock thread.....insanity MUST be stopped!

I have moderated my position on capital punishment. A little. But this guy attempted to murder somone earlier in his life and was sentenced to 30 years in prision. He was let out early and what was the first thing he did? Murder someone. It seems if the prisons are just going to let these vermin go, excecuting them is the only way to keep us safe. I'll abandon my support for capital punishment the day the US adopts truth in sentencing laws. If you draw a 30 year sentence, you spend 30 years in prison. If you get life, you leave the prision in a body bag. Plus US prisions are far too nice. They have air conditioning, cable TV, libraries, etc. If they were more like the one in The Count of Monte Cristo then I would say we don't need the death penalty. You can argue that capital punishment is not effective but I do not see how. This guy got a 30 year sentence and murdered someone later. If he is exceuted for this he will not be killing anyone else will he?

Nah, he is dead meat. His campaign has imploded.

That would be the boards text filter. The ladys last name was May(sounds like rock with a "c"),

You are dead on there. I did not like GWB as a candidate in 2000 but I voted for him because Al Gore just scared the bejesus out of me. I'll probably be doing the same thing next year if Hillary wins the nomination.

This thread is over. Nobody is topping that post.

This is what happens when you let these beasts out of jail early. I will bet there will be many of you who will tell me he does not deserve the death penalty. And I will admit I have softened my stance on it based on some of your arguments (particularly Enoch and Wals). But every now and then one comes along that is so heinous and revolting, any other punishment seems hollow. This is one of them.